SIU should probe municipalities with poor audit outcomes, says Samwu

Johannesburg - The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has called for municipalities that received poor audit outcomes to be probed by the Special Investigative Unit (SIU).

The union said the audit results released by the Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu were worrying and warranted the need for a broader investigation on how these municipalities were run.

Samwu's calls follow President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement that he had signed several proclamations that will enable the SIU to investigate governance issues and allegations of corruption at a number of municipalities and government departments.

The investigations include irregular governance practices at in the Eastern Cape Department of Planning and Treasury – which is reportedly linked to Nelson Mandela’s funeral.

The municipalities include; Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality, OR Tambo District Municipality and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality.

Meanwhile, Makwetu reported that irregular expenditure in the country's municipalities had risen to R12.1 billion. Of all the 257 municipalities that were audited, only 33 were able to obtain clean audits.

"We call on the President to also consider an SIU proclamation on all municipalities particularly municipalities which have performed dismally, receiving audit outcomes with disclaimers. We would also want to see more municipalities in Free State Province, North West and Limpopo provinces also being probed as not even a single municipality in these provinces managed to receive a single clean audit," said Samwu.

"We would love to see those who were responsible for wasting ratepayers’ money being personally held liable for having have wasted money which may have otherwise been directed to solving issues which South Africans face at Local Government."